FPMT News Around the World

Collages created by Land of Medicine Buddha students

Over the past few years volunteers at Land of Medicine Buddha (LMB) in Soquel, California, have cut pictures of deities, holy objects and lineage lamas out of Dharma publications – including Mandala magazine – before burning the excess Dharma material, based on advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. As a result, LMB has amassed a collection of boxes, bags and envelopes of differently sized holy images which they planned to put into a stupa.

“It is difficult to organize [the pictures] nicely and respectfully, so the idea to make collages came up, sticking them on old printed prayers sheets that were waiting to be burned,” Ven. Tsomo told Mandala. With that though in mind, LMB students and visitors started creating the collages.

“It turned out to benefit both organizing the pictures nicely for the stupas and also having less Dharma excess to burn!” said Ven. Tsomo, who took photos of some of their creations and posted them on Land of Medicine Buddha’s Facebook page.

In addition to cutting and pasting holy images, LBM students and staff continue to fill their gigantic prayer wheel with mantras and holy texts. You can see photographs documenting their prayer wheel improvements, which include rolling one ton of microfilm mantras on to the prayer wheel, on their Facebook page.

With 160 centers, projects, and services around the globe, there is always news on FPMT activities, teachers and events. Mandala hopes to share as many of these timely stories as possible. If you have news you would like to share, please let us know.

To put an end to our samsaric suffering, we must do two things: One is to purify the negative actions we’ve done every day of our lives and in our infinite previous lives as well. We also have to change our minds and actions and abstain from creating further negativities.